Class Description- This is a 9th grade English class with 50 minute periods. There are 26 students in the class. There are 15 males and 11 females. The students are fairly diverse, reflecting African American, Hispanic, Native American, and Caucasian backgrounds. Three students have an IEP and are fully included into their curriculum. Desks are arranged to support cooperative learning activities and to facilitate group instruction/ discussion. Students work best with multiple means of instruction: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and group activities. I strive to utilize Gardner’s multiple intelligences into my lesson planning.
Unit Title
Social Injustice and Discrimination in Literature
Lesson Topic
Cultural Presentations and The Scarlet Letter
Type of Lesson
Developmental
Core Learning Goal/Curriculum Standard 2.2.6 NCTE 9
Lesson Objective(s): Objective 1 – In small groups, students will be able to practice presentation skills by presenting their assigned cultural group in order to identify discriminations and their solutions.
Objective 2 – Given the first four chapters of The Scarlet Letter, SWBAT to envision the physical characteristics of the protagonist during an illustration activity, in order to describe her culture and discrimination.
Assessment(s): Assessment for Objective 1 –Presentation
Is this a formative or summative assessment?
Formative Would you characterize this assessment as a traditional or performance assessment?
Performance Why did you select this assessment strategy to measure student learning?
I will be creating a presentation rubric to comparatively measure students’ ability to properly present their research findings to the class. We will have already reviewed key presentation skills before their presentation date. The presentations need to embody professionalism in appearance and content. This formal assessment will also measure their collaborative skills. Their classmates will complete an evaluation form to measure the successfulness of the presentation in educating students about the presented culture. These students will be given a presentation rubric to organize their thoughts.
Assessment of Objective 2 – Hester Illustration
Is this a formative or summative assessment?
Formative Would you characterize this assessment as a traditional or performance assessment?
Performance Why did you select this assessment strategy to measure student learning?
I chose this assessment because it gives students the opportunity to envision the protagonist of the story. Students comprehend the information provided by the author, and build images in their imagination of what she actually looks like and the significance this has upon her discrimination (“A”). Students’ perspectives will be expressed throughout the assignment, as many students’ artwork will look different. This is an important skill to teach students; none of the drawings will look exactly the same. This activity is also great for kinesthetic learners because all students are able to take the information and physically draw it for their activity. Most importantly, it assesses their comprehension skills and character development. Students will pay particular attention to her culture and physical description.
Materials Needed for Lesson
Computer
PowerPoint (with instructions)
Timer
Discrimination Mind Map
Culture Mind Map
Student Groups/Presentations
CD player
Dictionary
KWL Chart Handout The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter Chapter Summary The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Group Presentation Rubric
Hester Prynne Illustration Model
Exit Ticket
Lesson Development
Teacher Drill/Motivational Activity- As a motivational activity, I will be briefly presenting my own cultural presentation to the class. This will serve as an effective model for students to base their own presentations upon. Transition- “Now that I’ve given you an example of a cultural presentation, let’s start by sharing your presentations with the class. Activity 1- Students will be sharing their presentations with the class. The order of presentations will be based on alphabetical order to reduce transition time. Their classmates will evaluate their performance with a rubric. I will share the importance of “constructive criticism” with the class by giving an example of appropriate feedback on the evaluation forms. Key Questions
Where is the _ culture currently located in the world?
Name one recognized hero, leader, or famous individual from your culture.
How is the _ culture being discriminated against in the past or present? Transition-“All of you did a great job presenting your research. We now have a better understanding of several cultures in this world and the types of discrimination they face. Let’s take a minute to complete the remainder of our KWL chart.” I’ll be passing out their charts at this point.
Students
Students watch me present my own cultural presentation.
Students will share their group presentations with the class in 5 minutes or less.
Time
5 minutes
30 minutes
Teacher (cont’d)
Activity 2 –Students will be prompted to quickly complete their “L” section of the KWL chart. This serves as a quick assessment in giving students a moment to reflect on what they’ve learned. Key Questions What did you learn from your research and presentation on your assigned culture?
Transition-“They look great! I’m going to read what you’ve wrote at the end of class. Please pass your KWL charts forward and get back into your cultural groups with your copy of The Scarlet Letter.”
Activity 3 –Once students are back into their cultural groups, I will spend a minute or two reviewing the historical time period and its significance to this novel (providing background knowledge). I will facilitate a discussion among student groups that is based on Chapters 1-4 in The Scarlet Letter (Read for HW). I will provide several questions on the PowerPoint presentation as a guideline. I will be walking around, monitoring student discussion. After 6 minutes of discussion, I’ll prompt students to quickly sketch an illustration (using references from chapters 1-4) of Hester Prynne. I will provide a model. Students will be prompted to keep her individual identity and the perceptions of others in mind when they’re drawing. Students will have four minutes to draw their images before turning them in.
Key Questions
What is the setting of The Scarlet Letter?
Who are the characters in The Scarlet Letter?
What do you think the letter “A” represents?
What is the significance of the settings’ description?
Summary/Closure/Revisit Objective- As a conclusion to this lesson, I’ll have students write an exit ticket that asks them to answer the following question: “What was the most important thing you learned from any of the cultural presentations today.” As a homework activity, students will be instructed to read chapters 5-8 of The Scarlet Letter.
Safety Valve- As a safety valve to the cultural presentations, I could have students spend the 30 minutes creating a poster of their culture that will be displayed in the classroom or outside in the hallway. This will give students another method of presenting their research material. As for The Scarlet Letter, I could show the first 8 minutes of the movie, which highlight Hester’s appearance. Students could write a sentence or two about the significance of her appearance and the way in which the other characters treat her.
Students (cont’d)
Students will quickly reflect on their research and presentations to complete their KWL chart.
Students will engage in a discussion about the introduction of the book and its significance (setting, characters, etc.). Afterward, students will create an illustration of Hester, capturing the significance of her image with her discrimination.
Students complete their exit tickets.
Time (cont’d)
3 minutes
10 minutes
2 minutes
Differentiation- To begin the class, all of the objectives are posted on the board so the students and the teacher know their expectations on the lesson. All of the instructions for activities are also posted on the board (or PowerPoint). On physical handouts for activities, students are given a clear format to follow, as well as the instructions posted on the top of the paper. In this lesson, I’ve given students the opportunity to present their information to the class. Students could choose a variety of presentation styles which would engage students in a variety of ways. The KWL chart is another assessment to monitor students’ comprehension of the material. It gives students the opportunity to describe what they’ve learned as an individual. In the next lesson, students will have the opportunity to evaluate their group’s performance on the research and presentation. As always, I’ve differentiated this lesson by giving several models for students. These models help students to outline their expectations for the assignments. As for the The Scarlet Letter, I’ve printed chapter summaries for struggling readers. This gives them the opportunity to summarize and synthesize through the material without frustration. The illustration activity is differentiated for students who have difficulty writing about their thoughts and ideas. Therefore, this activity gives them the opportunity to kinesthetically draw them. The group discussions are differentiated for students who perform better in a smaller facilitated group. It alleviates the pressure of speaking in front of the whole class and provides more opportunities for personal discussion and connections.
Reflection on assessment –
If I’m unsuccessful in meeting the lesson’s objectives, I’ll adjust my activities to better meet the needs of my students. Before we start discussing The Scarlet Letter, I could’ve spent more time capturing the historical background information about the book. This would not only familiarize students with the content, but it would also motivate them to read more into the story. As for the cultural presentations, I‘ve mentioned that I could’ve had students create a poster that would be displayed throughout the class or hallway. This would help to alleviate anxiety in the presentation process. However, I would still have students share their work with the class to develop successful presentation skills. I think the movie is a good idea for students to view. I will consider using the movie at the end of the unit. However, the introductory scene provides a great image of Hester in connection to her discrimination. Lastly, the group discussions could begin as an entire class discussion, to help all students get onto the same page about the first four chapters. Some students may have been unable to read for homework, which would affect their groups’ performance discussion.
Social Injustice and Discrimination in Literature
Cultural Presentations and The Scarlet Letter
Developmental
2.2.6
NCTE 9
Objective 1 – In small groups, students will be able to practice presentation skills by presenting their assigned cultural group in order to identify discriminations and their solutions.
Objective 2 – Given the first four chapters of The Scarlet Letter, SWBAT to envision the physical characteristics of the protagonist during an illustration activity, in order to describe her culture and discrimination.
Assessment for Objective 1 –Presentation
Is this a formative or summative assessment?
Formative
Would you characterize this assessment as a traditional or performance assessment?
Performance
Why did you select this assessment strategy to measure student learning?
I will be creating a presentation rubric to comparatively measure students’ ability to properly present their research findings to the class. We will have already reviewed key presentation skills before their presentation date. The presentations need to embody professionalism in appearance and content. This formal assessment will also measure their collaborative skills. Their classmates will complete an evaluation form to measure the successfulness of the presentation in educating students about the presented culture. These students will be given a presentation rubric to organize their thoughts.
Is this a formative or summative assessment?
Formative
Would you characterize this assessment as a traditional or performance assessment?
Performance
Why did you select this assessment strategy to measure student learning?
I chose this assessment because it gives students the opportunity to envision the protagonist of the story. Students comprehend the information provided by the author, and build images in their imagination of what she actually looks like and the significance this has upon her discrimination (“A”). Students’ perspectives will be expressed throughout the assignment, as many students’ artwork will look different. This is an important skill to teach students; none of the drawings will look exactly the same. This activity is also great for kinesthetic learners because all students are able to take the information and physically draw it for their activity. Most importantly, it assesses their comprehension skills and character development. Students will pay particular attention to her culture and physical description.
Computer
PowerPoint (with instructions)
Timer
Discrimination Mind Map
Culture Mind Map
Student Groups/Presentations
CD player
Dictionary
KWL Chart Handout
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter Chapter Summary
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Group Presentation Rubric
Hester Prynne Illustration Model
Exit Ticket
Drill/Motivational Activity- As a motivational activity, I will be briefly presenting my own cultural presentation to the class. This will serve as an effective model for students to base their own presentations upon.
Transition- “Now that I’ve given you an example of a cultural presentation, let’s start by sharing your presentations with the class.
Activity 1- Students will be sharing their presentations with the class. The order of presentations will be based on alphabetical order to reduce transition time. Their classmates will evaluate their performance with a rubric. I will share the importance of “constructive criticism” with the class by giving an example of appropriate feedback on the evaluation forms.
Key Questions
Where is the _ culture currently located in the world?
Name one recognized hero, leader, or famous individual from your culture.
How is the _ culture being discriminated against in the past or present?
Transition-“All of you did a great job presenting your research. We now have a better understanding of several cultures in this world and the types of discrimination they face. Let’s take a minute to complete the remainder of our KWL chart.” I’ll be passing out their charts at this point.
Students watch me present my own cultural presentation.
Students will share their group presentations with the class in 5 minutes or less.
5 minutes
30 minutes
Activity 2 –Students will be prompted to quickly complete their “L” section of the KWL chart. This serves as a quick assessment in giving students a moment to reflect on what they’ve learned.
Key Questions
What did you learn from your research and presentation on your assigned culture?
Transition-“They look great! I’m going to read what you’ve wrote at the end of class. Please pass your KWL charts forward and get back into your cultural groups with your copy of The Scarlet Letter.”
Activity 3 –Once students are back into their cultural groups, I will spend a minute or two reviewing the historical time period and its significance to this novel (providing background knowledge). I will facilitate a discussion among student groups that is based on Chapters 1-4 in The Scarlet Letter (Read for HW). I will provide several questions on the PowerPoint presentation as a guideline. I will be walking around, monitoring student discussion. After 6 minutes of discussion, I’ll prompt students to quickly sketch an illustration (using references from chapters 1-4) of Hester Prynne. I will provide a model. Students will be prompted to keep her individual identity and the perceptions of others in mind when they’re drawing. Students will have four minutes to draw their images before turning them in.
Key Questions
What is the setting of The Scarlet Letter?
Who are the characters in The Scarlet Letter?
What do you think the letter “A” represents?
What is the significance of the settings’ description?
Summary/Closure/Revisit
Objective- As a conclusion to this lesson, I’ll have students write an exit ticket that asks them to answer the following question: “What was the most important thing you learned from any of the cultural presentations today.” As a homework activity, students will be instructed to read chapters 5-8 of The Scarlet Letter.
Safety Valve- As a safety valve to the cultural presentations, I could have students spend the 30 minutes creating a poster of their culture that will be displayed in the classroom or outside in the hallway. This will give students another method of presenting their research material. As for The Scarlet Letter, I could show the first 8 minutes of the movie, which highlight Hester’s appearance. Students could write a sentence or two about the significance of her appearance and the way in which the other characters treat her.
Students will quickly reflect on their research and presentations to complete their KWL chart.
Students will engage in a discussion about the introduction of the book and its significance (setting, characters, etc.). Afterward, students will create an illustration of Hester, capturing the significance of her image with her discrimination.
Students complete their exit tickets.
3 minutes
10 minutes
2 minutes
To begin the class, all of the objectives are posted on the board so the students and the teacher know their expectations on the lesson. All of the instructions for activities are also posted on the board (or PowerPoint). On physical handouts for activities, students are given a clear format to follow, as well as the instructions posted on the top of the paper.
In this lesson, I’ve given students the opportunity to present their information to the class. Students could choose a variety of presentation styles which would engage students in a variety of ways. The KWL chart is another assessment to monitor students’ comprehension of the material. It gives students the opportunity to describe what they’ve learned as an individual. In the next lesson, students will have the opportunity to evaluate their group’s performance on the research and presentation. As always, I’ve differentiated this lesson by giving several models for students. These models help students to outline their expectations for the assignments. As for the The Scarlet Letter, I’ve printed chapter summaries for struggling readers. This gives them the opportunity to summarize and synthesize through the material without frustration. The illustration activity is differentiated for students who have difficulty writing about their thoughts and ideas. Therefore, this activity gives them the opportunity to kinesthetically draw them. The group discussions are differentiated for students who perform better in a smaller facilitated group. It alleviates the pressure of speaking in front of the whole class and provides more opportunities for personal discussion and connections.
Reflection on assessment –
If I’m unsuccessful in meeting the lesson’s objectives, I’ll adjust my activities to better meet the needs of my students. Before we start discussing The Scarlet Letter, I could’ve spent more time capturing the historical background information about the book. This would not only familiarize students with the content, but it would also motivate them to read more into the story. As for the cultural presentations, I‘ve mentioned that I could’ve had students create a poster that would be displayed throughout the class or hallway. This would help to alleviate anxiety in the presentation process. However, I would still have students share their work with the class to develop successful presentation skills. I think the movie is a good idea for students to view. I will consider using the movie at the end of the unit. However, the introductory scene provides a great image of Hester in connection to her discrimination. Lastly, the group discussions could begin as an entire class discussion, to help all students get onto the same page about the first four chapters. Some students may have been unable to read for homework, which would affect their groups’ performance discussion.